Have you ever experienced great sorrow over something only to rejoice sometime later with even more astonishment? It’s the experience that David had when he said, “weeping may tarry for the night but joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5). It’s the experience that all those in Christ will have when we are made new like Christ. Scripture promises that the level of joy that awaits us will make our present sufferings seem light and momentary (2 Cor. 4:17-18).

For those who followed closely to Christ, this day, the second day of his burial must have evoked a sorrowful expression of disbelief: “I can’t believe it.” Luke records that the disciples, his mother, and several other women were huddled together, “troubled” and filled with “doubts” as they faced a future with seemingly no hope (Luke 24:38). But on the third day Jesus appeared to them and showed them his hands and feet. Their response? “. . . they disbelieved for joy . . . ” (vs. 41). They went from one kind of disbelief to another kind. The first was filled with despair – the second with exhilaration.

Point: If you are crushed and despairing over a lost hope, and it stuns you into the common feeling of disbelief because of shattered expectations, hang on . . . joy comes in the morning! Either in this life and most definitely in the next, whatever unbelief of sorrow you are experiencing for now, there will come a day where a joyful disbelief will sweep you up in gladness of heart. It will be like going through years of financial hardship due to medical procedures that caused you to lose your home, then . . . one day you open your door and there stands the reps for Publishers Clearing House – and a huge placard looking check written to you in bold print: $10,000,000.

Tomorrow we laugh out-loud, cry tears of joy, run around in circles, pinch ourselves, hug one another, take a deep breath, put our hands over our mouths, then over our heads – and say, “I Can’t Believe it?!” This is the promise for now and for the future for all those who love Jesus more than life itself.